Top 5 places to revisit

We try to never make decisions that we will regret…but I’m a terrible decision maker and Craig isn’t much better, so it’s inevitable that there’s a few things we’ve missed out on. Maybe we’ve made some bad choices in the past, but when you travel for such a long period of time it’s hard to constantly appreciate everything you see..

Even in countries that we thoroughly explored there’s bits we didn’t do, usually due to the cost. Now that we’re a bit older and wiser it would be nice to take extra money along to do those things.

Genevieve from http://thewanderbug.com/ asked us a few months back where we’d like to revisit the most and we’ve finally decided…

1- Norway

Romsdalen Valley, NorwayKjerag Boulder, Norway

Norway stole our hearts, the whole country is jaw dropping, but there is one area that we fell for the most and that was The Lofoten Islands. The mountains weren’t as high as others in Norway, but what they lacked in height they surpassed in looks.
We’d like to revisit the islands in winter though, to see those peaks covered in snow and reflected in the sea, to go on a husky pulled sledge ride under the northern lights and to attempt to follow moose footprints in the snow. We’d also love to go further afield and visit Svalbard which is home to Polar Bears. Then there’s the whales; while on our whale trip I read you can snorkel with humpbacks and Orca’s in winter. I have no idea how much it costs but it sounds incredible and is on our bucket list.

We spent two months driving around the USA and it still remains one of our favourite roadtrips. Utah totally won us over with canyons beside the roads and the glowing red rock sunsets. The only downfall was we visited in winter in our campervan. It was pretty cold and uncomfortable, with Christmas Eve being -15 degrees and surrounded by 8ft walls of snow. But, we do love our snow capped mountains so it was still very beautiful and fun to just pull up and go sledging. But winter meant some national parks were closed or only partly accessible, so we couldn’t visit Yosemite, Crater Lake or the more remote area of the Grand Canyon. Also, Yellow Stone National Park is high on our list of places to go and it wasn’t possible when we were there. We’re wildlife lovers and I’m sure we could tick a fair few boxes with all the bears and bison there. We’d also love to see the whales that come ever so close to the Californian coast. It’s a huge and diverse country, each state almost feels like a new country. And then there’s Alaska, which we’ve had our eyes on for some time…

There’s some places we never want to go back to in India. We spent four months in the country and tried to see as much as possible as at the time we said we’d never return. But there’s something about that country, like it puts a spell on you and draws you back, and all those moments that made us mad, make us smile. The people drove us crazy, they burped in my face, even farted in my face once, and one actually managed to spit a big blob of red betel dyed saliva on my leg in a sand storm as the wind blew it onto me. But when it all became too much, they’d wiggle their head and we couldn’t help but laugh back. So, we would like to revisit, but only the north, we loved Rajasthan, so definitely back into the beautiful desert with the most colourfully dressed locals. We’d try our luck at another tiger safari as we left disappointed last time. We’d also love to explore the Kashmir area, more of the Himalayas, and if we were feeling brave enough the north east tribal states which sound absolutely fascinating. Plus I’d pack light and fill my luggage with souviners!

4- Australia

The incredible Great Ocean road, VictoriaParadise, relaxing in a natural waterhole, Queensland

It was the first country we visited on our round the world trip so it was a total learning curve for us. We soon realised we hated cities and areas heaving with smelly hippies, but instead loved national parks and hiking. If we went back we’d like to see more national parks, especially in the north and west of the country. But if someone could arrange an air-conditioned bubble for us to visit in then that would be great! We’d go back to the Great Barrier Reef and do more diving, as no other dive since Australia has had as much life or colour. And a visit back would most certainly involve a trip to Finch Hatton Gorge where we spent days chilling in a pristine waterhole surrounded by rainforest.

5- Ecuador

Market Day, EcuadorWaterfall highway, Banos

Compared to the rest of South America, Ecuador is a tiny country, however it has a lot to offer in a small area. The bus rides are never too long which we loved and the culture is still strong with traditionally dressed locals in little trilby hats and colourful shawls. If we went back we’d re-try the cycle ride along the Waterfall highway from Baños to the Amazon Basin…last time we gave up a mere 10km from the finish line but with a view of the vast jungle ahead. We’d like to spend some time in the Amazon, and maybe do some volunteer work there as I’ve heard good stories about it. We’d probably take more money, in which case we would do activities like climbing one of the incredible snow capped volcanos. Last time we said no to the Galápagos Islands as it was too expensive, but if we went back we’d definitely head there and dive the pristine waters.

But before we go re-visiting countries we’ve already been to, we want to explore new ones, and that list is endless, 48 down, 148 to go…